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Amendment 2 opponents say it's 'de facto legalization' of marijuana

Karl Etters, Tallahassee Democrat 2:06 p.m. EDT July 17, 2014

Colorado attorney Rachel O'Bryan speaks at a news conference Wednesday with sheriff Don Eslinger of Seminole County, opposing Amendment 2 on the November ballot, legalizing medical use of marijuana in Florida.
(Photo:
Bill Cotterell, special to the Democrat
)

People United for Medical Marijuana, the group that spearheaded the effort to get the proposal on the ballot, gathered enough signatures statewide in late January to get the initiative onto the November ballot, when 60 percent of voters must approve for it to pass.

Fay was joined by Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger, and Rachel O'Bryan, who helped shape Colorado's recreational use guidelines. O'Bryan called the Florida ballot language broadly enabling of patients who may seek marijuana as a treatment.

The broadness "will swallow the rules," said O'Bryan, who now serves as the spokeswoman for Smart Colorado, a non-profit group that aims to minimize the consequences of legalizing marijuana.

The amendment allows a physician to recommend marijuana for debilitating medical conditions and "other conditions which a physician believes the medical use of marijuana would likely outweigh the potential health risks for a patient."

The Supreme Court in its review of the amendment's language found the language does not mislead voters.

Ben Pollara, PUFMM's campaign manager, said Florida is not running an experiment, but using other states as models.

"We're not trying to reinvent the wheel; this is not an experiment," Pollara said. "We have a pretty good guide of what to do and what not to do in implementing a medical marijuana law."

Of Florida's 19 million residents, the Department of Health estimates between 175,000 and 450,000 people would be eligible users of the medical-marijuana program.

Colorado in its first six months of recreational sales of marijuana raked in $25.3 million in taxes, $4.77 million just in the month of June, according to data from the Colorado Department of Revenue.

Licensing and application fees for retail and medical marijuana accounted for $9.55 million in revenue for the state.

A May 5 Qunnipiac poll showed that 88 percent of Florida voters approved of the use of marijuana if recommended by a doctor.

O'Bryan pointed to increases in crime in downtown Denver, spikes in impaired drivers and the seemingly unregulated marketing of edible products containing high levels of marijuana's psychoactive ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), since Colorado approved recreational use in 2012.

O'Bryan said 94 percent of patients in Colorado list severe pain as their ailment followed by 3 percent with cancer, 2 percent who suffer from seizures and 1 percent who use marijuana to treat HIV.

Eslinger said the Don't Let Florida Go to Pot Coalition was formed out of the "overwhelming concern we have for Florida youth," and pushed education of the "ill effects of legal marijuana.

"All we have to do really is look at other states and see where they have legalized marijuana and the challenges they face on a daily basis," he said.

Opponents are concerned that a step toward medicinal use is a ruse and is, in fact, a push to put pot shops on every corner.

"It's a big marijuana industry that will be legalized," Fay said. "I can assure you, it's not about medicine."

Pollara disagreed.

"Despite what they say it remains a pretty non controversial issue," he said. If a doctor recommends a patient go through a particular course of treatment…that patient should be able to do so without fear of arrest or incarceration."